2010-03-30

I know it’s been a while since I posted, I’ve been stuck on an island with a bunch of others running from some black smoke trying to solve the mystery, what is this island?

The reason I’m here is this, I’ve just read an article on MLBTR that has left me stunned and quite frankly embarrassed of what this team of ours has become.

The article breaks down the total cost of the starting rotation.

So in first place, I won’t leave you guessing because I’m sure you know who’ll it be.

1…coming in at $63 million New York Yankees
29… $9.4 Million Tampa Bay Rays
And number 30, coming in at a whopping $4.08 million dollars, your Toronto Blue Jays.

So looking at the rest of the AL East

Yanks 63
Red Sox 42
Orioles 14
Rays 9.4
Us 4.08

Let’s put this in to a pie chart to make us feel even better.

Makes you feel good about our chances going into 2010 in a week. This certainly adds ammo to Golden Arm’s argument that we have a chance to finish dead last in the AL this year. Well man, we’ve already finished dead last in one category and the season hasn’t even started yet.

I knew it was going to be low, but come on, we’re even behind the Pirates, The PIRATES! They point out that the total spent on starting rotations across is the bigs is $736 Million Dollars, so our piece is %.005. Wow. I know I know, we’re rebuilding, oh excuse me, just building. But come on, we still have to make it through this season to come out to the promised land that is the mighty 2011 season where everything is supposed to come together for us.

If you take out Doc's and Ryan's salary from our payroll this year, looks like the starting 5 for the Yanks is more then our entire payroll.

But the bigger kick to the nuts is, as the author points out. We are paying more for Roy Halladay this year to pitch for the Phillies then we are for our actual starting rotation. *gulp* It’s going to be a long year fellow Jays fans.

Why would you want to pay someone big money now, when he's only going to take innings away from the young pitchers that we're actually interested in? Two or three years from now, it makes sense to bring in a high-price FA or two, but right now I don't see any point. If the best pitcher in baseball isn't enough to make us into a contender, who would you rather they pay big money to this year? Spending 6-7 million for a few extra wins is great when you're a 90-win team looking to make the playoffs, but when that money might buy you 76 wins, instead of 72, I just don't see the point.

Point taken. I am not saying we should sign someone just for the sake of signing someone but when you see it like this, it makes you wonder. I have said it before and I will say it again: I think Rogers wants to sell this team. Reading articles like this one only drives that point home.....